DONINGTON PARK QUALIFYING REPORT

COLD AND WET DONINGTON PROVES TRICKY AS TURKINGTON FINISHES HIGHEST PLACED RWD CAR

It was another cold and wet qualifying day for the BTCC at Donington Park as the weather played havoc with expectations. Already ‘low grip’ due to its proximity to the airport, the East Midlands circuit was dealt single degree temperatures and rain by the bucket load.

MORNING PRACTICE

The morning practice sessions gave an indication to the mixed-up grid, suggesting that the rear wheel drive cars were going to suffer more than their FWD counterparts. Unable to generate heat as efficiently into the front tyres, the RWD cars were certainly feeling the low temperatures. Team BMW’s Colin Turkington had spent the two sessions chipping away at the setup of the 1 series, insisting that they were doing their best to find a balance he felt confident enough to push.

QUALIFYING

The afternoon qualifying took place with only one red flag despite the tricky conditions and lap times remained ever changing as each new tyre run went on. After making a few further tweaks Colin Turkington left his best til last moving from P18 to P11 on the final lap.

Delighted with moving up to the sixth row for tomorrows first race, Colin remained pleased with the result despite it not being where we would expect to see him.

COLIN TURKINGTON

“Today was a really testing one as the very cold and wet weather makes life extremely difficult at Donington Park. Nevertheless, you can’t expect things to be plain sailing all the time and I’ve learnt over the years that you don’t win championships on your good weekends, you win them on your bad ones.

I’m hungry to turn this around tomorrow and I can certainly race from the sixth row. We have a great car in there, and I’m confident that the races will come back to us.

Considering the depth of the field this year, P11 was a super result despite the uphill climb!”

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